Alleged Chinese Spy Balloon Hovering Over Montana

[The Deadman]

It got shot down over the North Carolina coast

[Aaronardo]

President Xi Jinpnig's reaction minutes after China's balloon was shot down.

[IndigoErth]

Yay, now hopefully we've had people prepared to go retrieve it. Hopefully it won't take forever to reveal the details.

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

while in real life we just kinda ignore it and handwave it until people actually start dying.

I think it's less ignoring it and handwaving and more-so we're apparently under-prepared in how to deal with this kind of thing when having to take communities in the way on the ground into consideration.

Maybe we really aught to consider keeping a better watch on the airspace along our western flank so we might catch this stuff sooner. And at best, shoot it down over the Pacific before it crosses the coastline.


Imagine being the people who got to shoot it down... you know they probably enjoyed it. lol *pop* Oops.


If it recorded pictures but there aren't any modern society equivalents of this image of but of Americans (or people in Latin America or Canada) down here like...

Spoiler:

...I'll be a little disappointed. lol I mean at least give us some cool photos we can take from you and keep, China.

[Sumac]

China wants to learn where Canadians hide their moose.
Sorry, not sorry.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by Sumac

China wants to learn where Canadians hide their moose.
Sorry, not sorry.

And their poutine. (Xi was told it's better than honey.)

[The Deadman]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Yay, now hopefully we've had people prepared to go retrieve it. Hopefully it won't take forever to reveal the details.


I think it's less ignoring it and handwaving and more-so we're apparently under-prepared in how to deal with this kind of thing when having to take communities in the way on the ground into consideration.

Maybe we really aught to consider keeping a better watch on the airspace along our western flank so we might catch this stuff sooner. And at best, shoot it down over the Pacific before it crosses the coastline.


Imagine being the people who got to shoot it down... you know they probably enjoyed it. lol *pop* Oops.


If it recorded pictures but there aren't any modern society equivalents of this image of but of Americans (or people in Latin America or Canada) down here like...

Spoiler:

https://www.science.org/do/10.1126/a.../sn-tribeh.jpg

...I'll be a little disappointed. lol I mean at least give us some cool photos we can take from you and keep, China.

The people in Alaska probably didnt know any better until it passed through Canada.

[TurtleManiac]

I suppose Xi gave Biden the OK to take down the balloon after a week of it floating around, they got whatever intel they needed.

[MikeandRaph87]

How many spy balloons are there? The one over Montana, the one over Central America, and the one over the Carolinas? Or are one of those the same spotted in different areas?

[The Deadman]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

How many spy balloons are there? The one over Montana, the one over Central America, and the one over the Carolinas? Or are one of those the same spotted in different areas?

The one that was over the Carolinas is the one that was in Montana.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

How many spy balloons are there? The one over Montana, the one over Central America, and the one over the Carolinas? Or are one of those the same spotted in different areas?

It's a magic balloon! It would've flown over Dallas and splattered the president's brain all over his car seat JFK-style, too, if he only had a brain to splatter...

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

Ah,okay. What about the one over Central America? The news outlets are giving confusing information.

Different one reported by Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Different one reported by Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela.

This is for sure? Confirmed?

[IndigoErth]

Article I saw that mentioned those countries by name said it was confirmed by the Pentagon. A photo as well in another article.

Edit: Just saw video as well.

[Andrew NDB]

Shesus... wtf, man.

[ChosenOne]

I mean, it's not like those three countries are big military or nuclear powers. Costa Rica in particular literally has no armed forces... So why would China be spying on them? Could it be that the crazy bastards are formulating a plan for invading the US via the Southern border in case a war with China ever breaks out over Taiwan?

[Mayhem]

Part of me can see it as letting loose a bunch of monitoring balloons and seeing how the air currents and streams take them. But in the current climate, it’s very suspect especially after Thailand announced last week they are allowing US military operations to return to the islands, so the US now pretty much will have a ring of monitoring stations enclosing the South China Sea and China itself.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

I mean, it's not like those three countries are big military or nuclear powers. Costa Rica in particular literally has no armed forces... So why would China be spying on them? Could it be that the crazy bastards are formulating a plan for invading the US via the Southern border in case a war with China ever breaks out over Taiwan?

Or just a flyover country on the way to other targets of interest in the other two.

But where did that one go... Has it also reached the ocean or is it still roaming over land.

[Coola Yagami]

Apparently people on Twitter are saying Trump allowed China to fly their weather balloons three time during his presidency and hid it from the media. Kinda like a 'take that people that think Trump woulda shot them down'. They're also singing and dancing that Trump did nothing while Biden did (eventually) shoot the balloon down.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Apparently people on Twitter are saying Trump allowed China to fly their weather balloons three time during his presidency and hid it from the media. Kinda like a 'take that people that think Trump woulda shot them down'. They're also singing and dancing that Trump did nothing while Biden did (eventually) shoot the balloon down.

From what I heard it was a senior defense official who stated it, though sounds like it may have been instances of balloons briefly flirting with US territory and this may be the first that it just came right on in and through. Though those other cases really should have been public and dealt with in a way to discourage what now just happened.

Even if it really did turn out to be just a weather balloon and no harm was intended, by now China should have been better about preventing this after those prior incidences and figure out a way to go retrieve it before it gets into territory it shouldn't be intruding on.


Thing that bugs me is that China sits there now kind of mad that we shot it down, but where the hell were they in keeping in touch with us over it and actively trying to work with us to deal with it and get it returned to them if it really was just an innocent mistake?

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Apparently people on Twitter are saying Trump allowed China to fly their weather balloons three time during his presidency and hid it from the media. Kinda like a 'take that people that think Trump woulda shot them down'. They're also singing and dancing that Trump did nothing while Biden did (eventually) shoot the balloon down.

Sounds like something people on Twitter would do.

But, I mean... Every initial teport of these things came from civilians online, the Pentagon merely confirmed their sightings. And didn't Trump have a rocky relationship with the media? So how come we didn't hear a single peep about this back then? And if the president has the power to hide it from the media, why wouldn't Biden do the same now? The answer is simple: because the president can't, and because this never happened before now.

The people on Twitter didn't think this through. That's TDS for ya.